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Item #9
Patients
Less Likely to Heed Advice of Obese Physician
Looking
at a trim, fit physicians, patients are more likely to think,
"This person appears to know what he's talking about.
Patients
are less likely to follow the treatment recommendations of obese
rather than non-obese physicians, according to the results of a new
stud.
According
to lead author Dr. Robert Hash from Mercer University School of
Medicine in Macon, Georgia, "For some patients, the perceived
health status and health behavior of the physician may be a factor in
the readiness to accept advice and or counseling.”
Previous
reports have found that physicians who practice a particular health
behavior are more likely to counsel their patients about that health
behavior. Other reports have found that physicians who try to improve
their own health habits are more likely to advise their patients about
general health habits.
Few
studies, however, have looked at whether a physician's own health
status--obese versus non-obese--affects patients' perceptions of his
or her healthcare advice.
To
investigate, Dr. Hash and colleagues surveyed 226 patients from five
physicians' offices in Georgia. Two male physicians were classified as
obese, with weights of 125 kg and 102 kg. The remaining three
physicians--one man and two women--were not obese.
Overall,
patients said they were more receptive to treatment advice from
non-obese physicians than from obese physicians, the researchers
report in the January issue of Preventive Medicine.
This
may be because patients looking at a trim, fit physicians are more
likely to think, "This person appears to know what he's talking
about," Dr. Hash said.
Yet,
for reasons unknown, the patients were equally receptive to advice
from all five physicians about general weight control and fitness, the
report indicates.
In
general, among obese physicians, "the 'do as I say' mentality is
possibly at work," Dr. Hash said. "But...practicing positive
health behaviors is much harder than talking about them."
Prev
Med 2003;36:41-44.
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